The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2015, and October 31, 2016 (see FAQ for exceptions), are automatically nominated for the 2016 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on November 3, 2016, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

KIRKUS REVIEW

Kids face every possible pitfall of modern adolescence as they
go from eighth grade to senior year of high school in Mill Valley, California.

Johnson’s debut novel bristles with authentic detail of life in
Marin County, where the author was born and raised. She knows the high
school—“stuccoed Creamsicle-orange, generously windowed, and radiantly
trimmed”; the parents: “rich hippies parading along the triangle of avenues,
congratulating themselves for buying Priuses along with their Range Rovers and
getting their overpriced organic oranges at Whole Foods”; the teachers: nothing
they enjoy more than "laughing bitterly at their own poverty" or
"the insanity of Mill Valley parents"; and the local version of each archetypal
teenage clique. Here the stoners, for example, are the Bo-Stin beach kids, from
the coastal towns of Bolinas and Stinson Beach, with “hair that waved to their
waists or shaggy mops or dreads, cutoff shorts or ripped flared jeans and
thrift-store tank tops.” Johnson knows exactly how they talk—“That’s just Nick.
He’s always doing some cutty James Bond shit like that”; how they feel playing
video games: “The head exploded and shot fireworks of blood and bone into the
sky and for a minute he felt hella raw”; and how they address each other on
social media: “omfg em r u ok I cant beleive this happened.” Perhaps this
acutely observed novel would have been more successful if the author hadn't
felt compelled to include all of the following scenarios: A boy bullied into
jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge by social media taunts. A girl preyed on by
a pedophile middle school teacher, exposed on Snapchat. A supersmart drug
dealer charging a desperate Asian striver $700 to take his SAT. A beautiful girl everyone hates. A house party
that ends in a car wreck sending kids to the hospital and juvie. And last but
not least, a popular athlete lured over the internet into acting in
pornographic gay films.

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